Disclaimer: ‘Ade Coker jabs Mahama over Afriyie-Ankrah’

Mr Ade Coker

Accra, July 10, GNA – The news item titled ‘Ade Coker jabs Mahama over Afriyie-Ankrah’, which appeared on Ghanaweb.com on Tuesday 8 July, and was also published on a number of other websites (modernghana.com, ghheadlines.com, topix.com etc.) was never a story written by the Ghana News Agency (GNA), a statement issued by the Management of the Agency said on Thursday.

‘The concocted story, which was ostensibly dressed in GNA garb to give it credibility, lacked the substance and style to warrant the signature of GNA in the first place’, the statement signed by Dr Bernard Otabil, General Manager of the Agency said, adding: ‘Such acts of wickedness only go to fuel public anger against journalists and the work of media organisations’.

The statement further indicated that: ‘Mr Ade Coker has not granted any interview to GNA and therefore those words purported to have been spoken by him were false. It is therefore extremely shocking that faceless people would not only criminally malign an innocent individual but would also try to tarnish the image of an Agency that has stood for truth, credibility and objectivity for more than 57 years’.

It said the Agency was referring the matter to the National Media Commission and ‘would also take the necessary steps to ensure that media houses (print, electronic, online) that are not subscribers to GNA files would be prevented from using the Agency’s stories’.

‘These are necessary steps to ensure that the image of the Agency is protected from hawks parading themselves as media professionals and media owners’, the statement said, and challenged the editors of Ghanaweb to bring forward any proof that showed they really received the story in question from the GNA.